GPs Want Medicare To Focus On Patients And Prevention, To Cut Red Tape - Australia

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 02 Feb 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has released a summary of responses received from general practitioners, reflecting their views on the Australian Government's review of specific items within the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS). The RACGP has been invited by The Hon Nicola Roxon, Minister for Health to submit a response to the review on behalf of the general practice profession.

A brief report outlining GP responses to the RACGP's call for comments is now available at http://www.racgp.org.au/reports/30134

"In developing our response to the government's MBS review, we have focused on how to simplify the MBS, reduce red tape and encourage prevention. It has always been important to the college that on issues of such importance the views of our members help to shape the college's response to government" said Dr Chris Mitchell, RACGP President, and GP in northern NSW.

"We want all GPs across Australia to have their say on the future shape of Medicare. GPs welcome this opportunity to make a positive contribution to health reform; we want a better designed MBS that meets the needs of our patients and frees GPs from the tangle of red tape so that we can focus on patient care," said Dr Mitchell.

GPs provided feedback on a range of issues and suggested areas where reform is needed.

Overall, in relation to reforming the MBS, GPs perceive:

-- preventive care and chronic disease management (CDM) as very important
- current red tape as an impediment to preventive health care and CDM
-- the existing compensation for a number of MBS items as inadequate, which is a particular problem for aged care
-- the government proposal to keep the MBS reform proposed 'cost-neutral' as jeopardising the reform

GPs who provided feedback demonstrated strong support for an MBS that includes and provides for:

-- the use of a long and extra long consultations (the existing Level C and D) for the provision of evidence based preventive care (92%)

-- rebates for preventive care based primarily on time (74%) and incorporating

- the nonface-to-face component (92%), and
- the opportunity to generate a rebate for the work delegated to members of the general practice team (84%)

-- a change to the focus of chronic disease management (CDM) items from individual diseases e.g. asthma or diabetes to items that reward the management of complex care needs. As a result, flexibility in processes are needed and rebates generated should recognise the process of planned chronic care (82%)

-- items descriptors for 'out of surgery' items, including the residential aged care consultations, to
- be priced similarly to complex items in the surgery (79%)
- be based on a combination of the length/ content of the consultation and the time of the day/day of the week (71%)
- incorporate the opportunity to generate a rebate for the work delegated (88%), and
- incorporate a separate rebate to reimburse for the travel time (75%)

The RACGP thanks all GPs who took time out of their responsibilities to provide their feedback in relation to the current MBS review. The RACGP is committed to working with the Australian Government on implementing reforms to the MBS that improve care for our patients while cutting red tape and administrivia for our profession.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is responsible for maintaining standards for quality clinical practice, education and training, and research in Australian general practice. The RACGP has the largest general practitioner membership of any medical organisation in Australia and represents the majority of Australia's general practitioners.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners

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